The invention concerns a method for producing an absorbent disposable incontinence diaper having a main part comprising an absorption element, and comprising a front region having front side longitudinal edges, a rear region having rear side longitudinal edges and a crotch region arranged therebetween and placed between the legs of a user, and having rear side sections joined to the rear region on both sides and front side sections joined to the front region on both sides, which extend in a transverse direction of the disposable incontinence diaper beyond the side front and rear longitudinal edges of the main part and are spaced apart from one another in a longitudinal direction of the disposable incontinence diaper, the rear and front side sections being detachably connectable to each other in order to apply the disposable incontinence diaper.
The above-mentioned side sections of disposable incontinence diapers of this type are often made from a different material than the main part. The side sections, which are also frequently called “ears” of the disposable incontinence diaper, may e.g. be designed to be breathable, in particular permeable to air and/or water vapor, whereas the main part, which is often also called the chassis, may be designed to be impermeable to liquid. For closing the disposable incontinence diaper, the side sections, which are preferably undetachably joined to the rear region, are folded to the belly side of the user, where they are detachably connected either to the outer side of the front region of the main part or to the outer side of the side sections of the front region.
It would e.g. be feasible to form the front and rear side sections by substantially rectangular sections of a sheet material, which are then applied in a cyclic fashion to a main part web forming the main parts of the diaper in a so-called cut-and-place method. In this case, the leg cut-outs, which are delimited by the longitudinal edges of the rear and front side sections, which face each other, and by a main part which has an, in particular, hourglass shape, are also delimited by straight edges which extend in a direction transverse to the machine direction, i.e. transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the disposable incontinence diaper. In contrast thereto, it is desirable for various reasons to provide the disposable incontinence diaper with contoured leg opening regions, which is hereby defined in that the edges of the rear side section and/or of the front side section delimiting the leg openings do not extend exactly in a transverse direction, i.e. not perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the diaper. It could comprise sections which extend e.g. in a straight line, however, at an angle with respect to the longitudinal direction of the disposable incontinence diaper and/or curved sections. In a preferred embodiment of the disposable incontinence diaper, the edge of the side sections delimiting the leg openings has exclusively curved, i.e. bent sections. The minimum curve radius is thereby advantageously at least 5 mm, in particular, preferably at least 10 mm. The contour of the leg opening regions advantageously comprises curved sections with a varying radius of curvature.
A method for producing such disposable incontinence diapers of the so-called open type is disclosed in EP 07 015 141.0 of the applicant.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to specify a method of the above-mentioned type which can be performed in an advantageous fashion in terms of process technology and with minimum expense in view of the cutting waste thereby produced.